Below is a screenshot from the statutes of the General Assembly concerning the “duties” of teachers. They include a variety of “duties,” some more defined than others: discipline, “teaching,” reporting, provide for well-being, medical care, keep order, etc. Now throw in some other factors and variables that have a direct effect on those “duties” like … Continue reading “Ratting Out” Transgender Students To Parents Should Never Be Part Of A Teacher’s Job

According to TeachNC on November 3rd of LAST school year (2021-2022), there were over 8500 vacancies in North Carolina for classroom teachers ALONE. In all, there were over 23,600 vacancies. Just looking at those teacher vacancies – the average salary of a teacher in NC is right around $55,000 a year (according to the report from … Continue reading Where Has The Money Already Budgeted For Vacant Teacher Positions In NC Been Going For The Last 18 Months?

Toni Morrison passed just a little over three years ago. She was the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and what she did (and still does) for this white, upper middle class male teacher is something that I will always value as a life-long student: she made me understand that I … Continue reading Before We Challenge Books, We Should Be Challenged By Them – In Defense of Being Uncomfortable And What Toni Morrison Taught Me

The last few years have proven that the Read to Achieve initiative championed by Phil Berger has failed to do what it was promoted to do. Kris Nordstrom summed it up best from a report in January of 2019. In October, researchers from NC State’s Friday Institute for Educational Innovation helped to confirm what many educational … Continue reading Ever Read “The Handmaid’s Tale”? Well, There’s A Gilead To The South In Its Public Schools

Calendar flexibility is an issue that received much more attention in this last school year, and for good reasons. By 2017, North Carolina was one of only one of 14 states that had state laws that governed school calendars. The graphic below is from the Feb. 2017 Final Report to the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee … Continue reading Our School Systems Need Calendar Flexibility

This week Florida's governor Ron DeSantis "outlawed" the teaching of Advanced Placement African-American Studies in the entire state. Why? Well, because he is "anti-woke." The same man who told every teacher in the state to take away all classroom libraries until all books are properly vetted by his people has problems with a course that … Continue reading The Cowardly College Board & AP African American Studies

It was first introduced in House Bill 1173 last summer. Simply put, that bill would make the leader of the Department of Public Instruction also be the chair of the State Board of Education. Now it is being introduced as HB 17 - on the first day of the NCGA long session - with almost the … Continue reading They’re Going After Control Of The State Board Of Education To Bypass LEANDRO

Say in 2008, a school district had 1000 students in its school system and spent 10 million dollars in its budget to educate them. That’s a 10,000 per pupil expenditure. Now in 2022, that same district has 1500 students and the school system is spending 11.5 million to educate them. That district is spending more … Continue reading When A North Carolina Lawmaker Says, “Well, We Are Spending More on Education Than Ever Before,” Then Tell Him This

With State Attorney General Josh Stein announcing that he will be running for governor in after Roy Cooper's term expires, it starts to frame a clearer picture of what that race will look like if current political ambitions play out. State Attorney General Josh Stein against Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. And if you are an … Continue reading Stein Vs. Robinson For NC Governor- It’s Clear Who Would Serve Public Schools Better

Here is the salary schedule that is in place for the 2022-2023 school year. For those who are not teachers, make sure to pay attention to years 15-24. Frozen. 10 years of the same. There is no longevity pay during these years as well. Someone who has been teaching for 24 years makes the same … Continue reading 10 Frozen Years: The NCGA’s Plan To Eliminate Career Teachers